Safety play suit



Aug. 18, 1964 c. D. PALESOTTI SAFETY PLAY sun Filed April 12, 1963 INVENTOR c4204 YN D. Pazesor-rr .4 T TOE/V5 VJ United States Patent "cc 3,144,668 SAFETY PLAY SUIT Carolyn D. Palesotti, Rte. 2, Box 46A, Mound, Minn. Filed Apr. 12, 1963, Ser. No. 272,563 1 Claim. (Cl. 9--329) This invention relates to safety play suits for children, and more particularly to a one-piece play suit having buoyant material incorporated therein so that the play suit serves the purpose of a life preserver.

A main object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved safety play suit adapted to be worn by children while playing near a lake front, a swimming pool, or any other body of water, so as to serve as life preserver in the event that the child wearing same falls into the body of water, the suit being relatively simple in construction, being neat in appearance, and being comfortable to wear.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved safety play suit with buoyant material self-contained therein so that the suit will serve as a life preserver, the suit being inexpensive to fabricate, being arranged so that it cannot be easily taken off by a child, and being relatively easy to launder.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description and claim, and from the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view showing an improved safety play suit constructed in accordance with the present invention, a portion of the suit being shown unstitched to reveal details of internal construction.

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view similar to FIGURE 1, but showing the rear portion of the play suit of FIG- URE 1.

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged horizontal cross sectional View taken substantially on the line 3-3 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 4 is a perspective view showing the pad elements of buoyant material which are employed in the play suit of FIGURES l to 3.

Referring to the drawings, 11 generally designates an improved safety play suit constructed in accordance with the present invention. The play suit 11 comprises an upper jacket portion 12, a lower trouser portion 13, an intervening waist band portion 14 and a skirt portion 15 which extends outwardly from the garment immediately below the waist band portion 14, as is clearly shown in FIGURE 1.

The jacket portion 12 comprises a front panel 16 and a pair of rear panels 17 and 18, the rear panels joining the front panel at the shoulder strap portions of the garment, as shown at 18, 18 and at the side seams 19, 19. The lower margins of the front panel 16 and the rear panels 18 and 17 are stitched to the continuous waist band 14. Said waist band may be provided centrally thereof at its rear portion with a decorative bow 20.

The rear panels 17 and 18 of the jacket portion 12 of the garment have overlapping vertical margins which are provided with cooperating snap fastener elements 22 and 23, as shown in FIGURE 3, so that the garment may be closed at the rear thereof.

Each of the panels 16, 17 and 18 is of two-ply construction, defining compartments therein substantially coextensive in area with the respective panels. In the compartment defined by the front and rear walls 24 and 25 of the front panel 16 is disposed a buoyant pad 26 Patented Aug. 18, 1964 comprising a flexible plastic envelope 27 containing a quantity of buoyant material, 28, such as Kapok, or the like.

The rear panels 17 and 18 contain similar flexible plastic envelopes 29 and 30 filled with similar buoyant material, shown at 31 and 32.

Since the panels 16, 17 and 18 are of substantial area, and since the buoyant pads contained therein are substantially coextensive in area therewith and are of substantial volume, sufficient buoyant material may be provided in the envelopes 27, 29 and 30 to support a child safely in the water should the child fall into or wander into the water, so that the garment functions as a life preserver.

It will be noted that the garment is a complete onepiece play suit and that a child may be placed in the garment in the manner of an ordinary play suit, after which the back of the jacket portion 12 of the garment is fastened by interlocking the snap fastener elements 22 and 23. Because of the location of said snap fastener elements, a child cannot reach same and therefore cannot remove the garment easily. Thus, the child is protected against drowning if the child should accidentally fall into the water while playing on a dock or pier or adjacent to the edge of a swimming pool.

The respective pads comprising the envelope 27, 29 and 30 containing the buoyant material masses 28, 31 and 32 are of substantial thickness but are not excessively thick so as to make the garment so bulky as to be uncomfortable to wear. The envelopes 27, 29 and 30, being of flexible plastic material, are substantially waterproof, so that they will not become damaged by usual laundering procedures.

While a specific embodiment of an improved childrens safety garment has been disclosed in the foregoing description, it will be understood that various modifications within the spirit of the invention may occur to those skilled in the art. Therefore, it is intended that no limitations be placed on the invention except as defined by the scope of the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

A childrens safety play suit comprising a unitary garment having an upper jacket portion and a trouser portion and provided with an intervening continuous waist band portion, said jacket portion comprising a single front two-ply panel, and a pair of rear two-ply panels, said two-ply panels defining respective compartments, said panels being stitched at their lower margins to said Waist band portion and being stitched together at their top and side portions to define an enclosure to receive the upper portion of a childs body, said rear two-ply panels having overlapping inner vertical margins pro vided with a plurality of spaced interlocking sets of male and female snap fasteners, and respective buoyant pads disposed in said compartments and being substantially coextensive in area therewith, said pads comprising respective water proof flexible envelopes of plastic sheet material filled with buoyant padding material.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,044,652 Hartwig Nov. 19, 1912 1,412,683 Gribbie Apr. 11, 1922 1,562,720 Pettee et a1. Nov. 24, 1925 2,329,093 Sommers et a1. Sept. 7, 1943 3,050,752 Birchall Aug. 28, 1962 

